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Off topic: Things people ask you because you are (Brazilian, etc)
Thread poster: Nesrin
JaneTranslates
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Puerto Rico
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No offense (offence!) taken Oct 14, 2010

Anyone who would take offense at that probably left this thread long ago!

The only other discussion board I visit as often as this one is one for my current favorite (favourite!) American TV show. Some of the regular posters are from Australia, England, and France (other countries pop up, but less frequently). They see the same show, but not on the same schedule. I've learned that there are websites that show episodes of the show, but most of them are blocked to people outside the U
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Anyone who would take offense at that probably left this thread long ago!

The only other discussion board I visit as often as this one is one for my current favorite (favourite!) American TV show. Some of the regular posters are from Australia, England, and France (other countries pop up, but less frequently). They see the same show, but not on the same schedule. I've learned that there are websites that show episodes of the show, but most of them are blocked to people outside the U.S. (Oddly enough, that includes Puerto Rico.) Your post reminded me of some fascinating cross-cultural discussions on that board. Lots of interesting information, lots of poorly expressed questions.
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Steve Booth
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why incredulously Oct 14, 2010

Louisa Fox wrote:

When I was working with kids (11-18) in Germany 10 yrs ago I was asked a lot about if the British were responsible for foot and mouth and mad cow disease. The other thing I was incredulously asked was how on earth I could eat chips with vinegar!


I often ask the same question myself

how on earth can you eat chips with vinegar??

(mind you i am often asked by southerners why do you put gravy on your chips?)


 
Steve Booth
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This is common Oct 14, 2010

Nicole Schnell wrote:

My husband and I wanted to rent a car in Germany. After he picked his favorite one, he, apparently being an American, was asked:

"You can drive a stick shift?"


and mainly becasue there appears to be a lot of Americans who can't drive stick shift, (I have met many who have had to learn when they came to UK and have had to stress to car hire companies that we needed an automatic for some who refused to drive anything but)


 
Laureana Pavon
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MODERATOR
Argentina Oct 14, 2010

When visiting Europe/North America I've often been asked to teach people how to tango.

 
José Henrique Lamensdorf
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Brazil
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English to Portuguese
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In memoriam
Automatic transmissions - it's worse than that Oct 14, 2010

Steve Booth wrote:
and mainly becasue there appears to be a lot of Americans who can't drive stick shift, (I have met many who have had to learn when they came to UK and have had to stress to car hire companies that we needed an automatic for some who refused to drive anything but)


I learned that at least in California there is a different driver's license category - apparently quite popular there - allowing their holder to drive only cars equipped with automatic transmission.

This was a while ago, so it may have changed... Two couples in their sixties, from CA, were to travel to Italy, and their travel agent found that only stickshift cars were available for rental there. So all four tried driving a stickshift with a friend's dune buggy. One of the wives almost succeeded, but that wouldn't be reliable enough in Italian urban traffic and on the autostrade. So they paid a small fortune for the Italian car rental company to bring an automatic transmission car from Germany (and of course take it back afterwards).

Now automatic transmissions are popular in Brazil, but they weren't at all some 20 years ago. Few valets here knew how to use them. When I had such cars, they often kindly asked me to park myself in some secluded spot on the lot. So once in LAX the car rental clerk, upon seeing my BR driver's license, asked me, "Do you really know how to use an automatic? I've got three cars down in the shop because some countryfellows of yours lied to us on this matter."

In fact, I did request an automatic in England, because I felt I'd completely grind the transmission gears while shifting with my left hand, especially when driving from the passenger's seat on the wrong side of the street.


 
Nicole Schnell
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United States
Local time: 08:45
English to German
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In memoriam
Chips vs. potato chips Oct 14, 2010

Steve Booth wrote:

I often ask the same question myself

how on earth can you eat chips with vinegar??



I think it's delicious and certainly healthier than mayonnaise or ketchup. However, if you mention "chips" to a German kid, they will automatically think of potato chips because they call their chips/french fries "Pommes Frites".

Potato chips with vinegar - now that is one bizarre meal. (I am certain the kids gave it a try right away )


 
LEXpert
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How exactly do you trash an automatic transmission? Oct 15, 2010

José Henrique Lamensdorf wrote:

So once in LAX the car rental clerk, upon seeing my BR driver's license, asked me, "Do you really know how to use an automatic? I've got three cars down in the shop because some countryfellows of yours lied to us on this matter."



I'm trying to imagine how you could destroy an automatic transmission by using manual transmission driving habits. The only thing that comes to mind is forcing it from a forward gear into park or reverse at high speed. Aside from the fact that you wouldn't do that even on a stick (no P gear anyway), don't modern cars have interlocks of some sort to prevent that? I suppose you could run into something if you didn't know that a car in gear would move (if slowly) even without the accelerator being depressed.

Sadly, I concur with the sorry state of affairs in stick shift driving skills among Americans. It's an underrated life skill here. What if there was some of kind of emergency (medical, need to flee from a threat) and a stick was the only vehicle at your disposal? Well, it could happen. I've been trying to convince DW to learn for years but to no avail. I think it's just because that means she gets to make me be the (designated) driver all the time whenever we go abroad.


[Edited at 2010-10-15 03:29 GMT]

[Edited at 2010-10-15 03:30 GMT]


 
Nicole Schnell
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United States
Local time: 08:45
English to German
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In memoriam
The ultimate German dance: The Polka Oct 15, 2010

Eventually I will print up some flyers and carry a bunch of them with me in my purse at all times. They will come in handy whenever I am asked for the umpteenth time if I can dance the Polka. I won't have to explain any longer that (1) the Polka is not a German dance but from Central Europe and (2) that "Polka" is not even a German word.

 
Colin Ryan (X)
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Stick shift to automatic... Oct 15, 2010

Rudolf Vedo CT wrote:
What if there was some of kind of emergency (medical, need to flee from a threat) and a stick was the only vehicle at your disposal? Well, it could happen.


A couple of years ago I had to drive an automatic for the first time in my life, because that was all the car rental company had left in the lot.

Okay, so it's easier to go from a manual transmission to an automatic than the other way around, but if you ask my passengers who were with me on that occasion, they might disagree with you. I kept trying to press the imaginary clutch and got the brake pedal instead. Let's just say that there were no arguments about using seatbelts. Not after the first thirty seconds on the road, anyway.


 
Angie Garbarino
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French to Italian
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Stick shift to automatic is easy Oct 15, 2010

ryancolm wrote:

A couple of years ago I had to drive an automatic for the first time in my life, because that was all the car rental company had left in the lot.


You just need to place your left foot far from the brake pedal


[Edited at 2010-10-15 07:40 GMT]


 
Jennifer Forbes
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In memoriam
Left foot Oct 15, 2010

Angie Garbarino wrote:

ryancolm wrote:

A couple of years ago I had to drive an automatic for the first time in my life, because that was all the car rental company had left in the lot.


You just need to place your left foot far from the brake pedal


[Edited at 2010-10-15 07:40 GMT]


I see that this "off topic" thread has gone "off off toipic".
Yes, you soon get used to an automatic and forget how to change gear. After a while, your left foot withers and ultimately drops off.
My worst experiences with hire cars were with stick-shift cars in Corsica and Gran Canaria - like José-Enrique but the other way round - the sheer terror of changing gear with the wrong hand on the wrong side of the road (if there is one there) on some of the world's most terrifying cliff roads.
I wouldn't have the guts to do it now. I insist on an automatic car, or go by bus.
Jenny


 
Colin Ryan (X)
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Oops! you're right of course. Oct 15, 2010

Jenny Forbes wrote:
I see that this "off topic" thread has gone "off off toipic".


So, you think we should get back on topic to the off-topic?

Back off topic? Back on off topic...?

[Head explodes, pieces of brain spatter over keyboard]


 
Cecilia Di Vita
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United Kingdom
Local time: 15:45
English to Italian
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right-hand drive Oct 15, 2010

José Henrique Lamensdorf wrote:
In fact, I did request an automatic in England, because I felt I'd completely grind the transmission gears while shifting with my left hand, especially when driving from the passenger's seat on the wrong side of the street.


I quote you there Enrique. I've never had to hire a car and I've never droven an automatic car, but since I moved to the UK I've only droven my fiancé's car (a stick-shift Fiat Punto)once, and that was an emergency to drive him to the doctor when he was really unwell. What I find most terrifying is not driving on the wrong side of the road, but having to shift gears with my left hand! I wonder whether I will ever learn...


 
Anna Dzidowska
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Poland
Local time: 16:45
English to Polish
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My two cents' worth... Oct 15, 2010

"You Poles are some heavy drinkers." Actually, we do not drink more than people in any other country.

"I'm sorry I do not have any vodka for you" (in US) - actually, I do not drink any vodka, I can't stand it and prefer white wine instead - one glass at a time rather than one bottle.

"Where you from?" "Poland" "Awesome" (Several minutes pass) "Is it close to Egypt?"/ "Can you drive there?" (somewhere in US)

"So do you have Kodak films in Poland?" (in German
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"You Poles are some heavy drinkers." Actually, we do not drink more than people in any other country.

"I'm sorry I do not have any vodka for you" (in US) - actually, I do not drink any vodka, I can't stand it and prefer white wine instead - one glass at a time rather than one bottle.

"Where you from?" "Poland" "Awesome" (Several minutes pass) "Is it close to Egypt?"/ "Can you drive there?" (somewhere in US)

"So do you have Kodak films in Poland?" (in Germany, late 90s)

The city of Wroclaw is called "Breslau" in German and that name is typically associated with WW2; a German friend, who found the Polish name too difficult to pronounce, asked me once why we decided to change the name (from Wroclaw to Breslau) when the German name was sooo much easier to pronounce? Well, how should I put it...

Great thread, Nesrin. Thank you!

[Zmieniono 2010-10-15 16:27 GMT]
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Callum Walker
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United Kingdom
Local time: 15:45
Russian to English
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England... [Insert town or city] - is it near London? Oct 15, 2010

The most common (annoying) thing I get asked is "where do you live?" followed by "is that near London?".

Now, I live in Lincolnshire, which is a quaint countryside county based in the East Midlands of England about 1 to 2 hours east of Nottingham (a place which some people may know)... but one thing it is NOT is NEAR LONDON!

I always reply "It's in the middle of the country on the East coast" - to which most will still reply: "Oh, so it's near London then." ----- No, it
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The most common (annoying) thing I get asked is "where do you live?" followed by "is that near London?".

Now, I live in Lincolnshire, which is a quaint countryside county based in the East Midlands of England about 1 to 2 hours east of Nottingham (a place which some people may know)... but one thing it is NOT is NEAR LONDON!

I always reply "It's in the middle of the country on the East coast" - to which most will still reply: "Oh, so it's near London then." ----- No, it is not!

I also used to live in a town in Lincolnshire called Boston. The number of times which I have been asked "Oh, was it named after Boston in the US?" is uncountable. In fact, Boston UK was the place from which some the pilgrims travelling across to the US on the Mayflower departed (and founded Boston, MA). We do, however, have a village in Lincolnshire called New York - which WAS named after New York, USA!

The other comment I frequently get, especially in the US, is about my accent - how nice my British accent is! Personally, I would say that my British accent is not at all special - I have a nasty (in my opinion) Lincolnshire/East Midlands twang to my speech, which really grates, even on myself - it is a common pronunciation feature which a lot of people living in the countryside on the East of England suffer from!!

Oh yes, and everyone in England is supposed to have visited and have an intimate knowledge of Buckingham Palace and the Queen!

[Edited at 2010-10-15 11:39 GMT]
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